Country-level criticality assessment of abiotic resource use in Japan - Application of the SCARCE method

Abstract

The development of new technologies leads to the extensive use of abiotic resources and possible disruptions in the supply of material due to political, economic, and environmental reasons. To understand the impact of such disruptions on the economy, a comprehensive criticality assessment is necessary. As Japan is the third largest economy globally and heavily reliant of imports, the criticality of abiotic resources might become a pressing issue. However, previous criticality assessments of Japan have been limited in scope, failing to assess the overall supply disruption risks. Thus, this paper aims at identifying critical aspects of 35 abiotic materials used in the Japanese economy using the SCARCE method – an approach considering supply risk, vulnerability, social and environmental aspects to comprehensively analyse criticality. In the context of supply risk and vulnerability, the minerals niobium and phosphorus have been identified as the most critical. The criticality of niobium can be attributed to its significant trade barriers and production concentration, while that of phosphorus is primarily influenced by its high demand and lack of substitutes. Gold is the material with the highest criticality from environmental point of view due to the environmental implications related to its production. In the social context, the most critical mineral is antimony due to high level of small-scale and artisanal mining. In addition to the Japanese criticality, the results reflect the global one, showing the materials globally less critical and thus especially relevant to the Japanese economy. Next to providing results of 35 materials for evaluating their role in the Japanese economy, the underlying Python code is provided for adaptation for further criticality assessments of other regions. Based on these results, specific resource management strategies can be developed for Japan to ensure the availability of essential abiotic resources for the Japanese economy.